International Sherry Week
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- June 1st, 2014
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It’s official, it’s hip to sip sherry and there’s no better time to get on board than International Sherry Week.
This week from 2 – 8 June, we’ve selected La Gitana Mazanilla, Napoleon Amontillado and Triana Pedro Ximenz along with a Manzilla Martini and PX Sour cocktails.
Simply purchase one of these listed Hildalgo Sherries and receive a delicious taster to match.
What the experts say:
” True sherry is from a designated area around the town of Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain and not the flagon-filling fortified found over here that uses “sherry” as a semi-generic term. In Australia there’s less confusion since local “sherries” were renamed apera after an agreement with the European Economic Community.
Spanish sherry is not necessarily characterised by sweetness. Most are actually inherently dry, made from grapes fermented to dryness and then fortified. If they’ve been sweetened you’ll see the terms “pale cream”, “medium’ or “cream”. Only Pedro Ximinez and moscatel wines are naturally sweet, made with dried grapes in a dessert style.”
Jo Burzynska – NZ Herald
History of Hidalgo
Founded in 1792 by José Pantaleón Hidalgo, Bodegas Hidalgo is owned by the sixth successive generation of the family. Hidalgo is a modern rarity, being the last remaining family business (and almacenista, for those familiar with this term) to produce and export its own unblended, single-solera Sherries.
Just as rare is Bodegas Hidalgo’s total reliance on its own vineyards, 500 acres of Palomino Fino located in the great chalk pagos (“crus”) of Balbaína – the closest Jerez vineyard to the sea – and Miraflores, the great Sanlúcar vineyard renowned for the pedigree of its wines. Just as significant is the privileged location of the family’s Bodega San Luis – at beach-level in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the Guadalquivir River meets the ocean. Here, the miracle of Manzanilla is made possible by constant exposure to Atlantic breezes, laden with moisture and an ambient yeast/algae culture called flor. This surface-growing culture thrives year-round along Sanlúcar’s southwest-facing beachfront, protecting the resting wines from exposure to the air. At the same time, flor imparts the bracing, briny smell of sea spray which is Manzanilla’s hallmark, reflecting its years-long maturation process within earshot of the waves.
La Gitana Manzanilla (“the gypsy”), is Hidalgo’s flagship wine, product of a family solera established in the early 19th century, around the same time Manzanilla as a wine type came into existence. La Gitana is regarded as the authoritative Manzanilla in Spain and abroad.
Pastrana Manzanilla Pasada: To the southeast of Sanlúcar lies a chalk dune overlooking the Atlantic which offers the perfect conditions for ripening the Palomino grape and for production of the region’s finest dry wines. This is Miraflores, the Grand Cru of Jerez Superior. Hidalgo’s ancestral Pastrana site, a monopole holding, is at the heart of Miraflores. Pastrana contributes the length and finesse, perhaps even the soul, in all of Hidalgo’s magnificent wines, and a decision was taken some years back to market small quantities of the most exemplary manzanilla from this superlative vineyard on its own.
